The word in Koine Greek seems to just denote a gathering or assembly of
people. While in the GNT it most commonly refers to a gathering of
Christians (ie a church), see Acts 19 where EKKLHSIA variously refers to
a riotous spontaneous assembly (v32, 40) and a political assembly (v39).
As to "the called out ones" I think we need to be careful in using
(hypothetical) etymology to establish meaning - use in context must
take priority. So although EKKLHSIA may have originally derived from the
notion of being called out I'm not sure that is reflected in the Acts
19:32 usage for example - it seems to have come to denote an assembly
(which may of course be "called out" in the sense of called together,
but need not be - eg Acts 19:32).
> However, I have recently heard that this word could mean "a group of people
> who guard the walls of a city, fort or castle". Have any of you heard this
> definition? Is it from Classical Greek?
I haven't heard of this, but it may well fall within the semantic range
- it is after all a gathering of sorts. I'm not sure though that it
would be wise to transfer the idea of guarding to other usages of
EKKLHSIA unless there were contextual evidence that this formed part of
the denotation of the word.
Regards
Perry Wiles
Moore Theological College
1 King St
Newtown
NSW 2042
Australia